Bing Crosby vs. Frank Sinatra -- contemporary stature.

please elaborate...thanksa.

 

Glad you mentioned the Bergman album - fantastic album from start to finish. He’s in great voice and shows it off more than a few times

I also like Bing with a Beat for much the same reasons. Excellent choice of material on both albums.

New Tricks is one I can’t seem to play enough. Alabamy Bound and, my favorite, Softly As is in a Morning Sunrise are standouts.

I’ll wade into the debate - Frank was just a bit too “too cool for school” for my taste. All that “ring a ding ding” is a turn off. He’s a great singer that is without question but it’s the style I don’t go for.

I also found that Bing’s voice and material seemed to stand up better in the 60s and beyond.

Stull, this is the Beatles vs Stones, John vs Paul stuff that really can’t be decided. They’re both icons and supremely talented.

 

While I disagree with your assessment on Fance Meeting You Here, I agree 100% about Bing’s material with Buddy Cole. He shines in that small group setting.

 

I have very little Bing. I do have the MFSL LP. Give me 4-5 Bing records I should grab...or a really good box set...

 

Great thread. Is there a Crosby equivalent to Sings For Only The Lonely? No, I'm not trying to be smart-just curious.

 

Records wise: Seasons (last album recorded a few weeks before his death, but still great), Songs I Wish I Had Sung, Some Fine Old Chesnuts or New Tricks (both online for streaming so you can get a taste), and Holiday In Europe is a favorite of mine. (If you don't have any Christmas records of him I'd suggest Merry Christmas and I Wish You A Merry Christmas.)
CDs wise: A boxset Bing: His Legendary Years (4 CD set containing a lot of staples in his career at Decca and Brunswick from 1931 to 1957) is the best one to encompass most of Bing's prime. He still had good stuff after 1957 though don't get me wrong.

 

No, I'm not sure if Bing would ever do an album like this, although if he did it probably would have been 1952 or 1953 as his wife had died around that time so by the time he got into more albums he was with his second wife. He did sing some of the songs from the album, What's New, Blues In The Night, and One For My Baby. He also sang what would be a title song of one of Frank's albums in that style, Where Are You. He just never made an album like that in full swing.

 

Let’s face it.
It’s Frank’s world. Bing was just living in it.

 

I also highly recommend A Time To Be Jolly, which is beautifully sounding holiday album Bing recorded in the early 1970's and finds the legend in fine voice with an orchestra conducted by Les Brown. The album rates very highly on Chip Arcuri's Top 500 List of the greatest holiday albums from the Golden Age of Christmas at #36. It has a lot better sonic quality than we are use to hearing with Bing's older stuff, and Bing is an fine voice on the whole album. You can buy this album on CD with a different name (Christmas Album) and different album cover artwork on Amazon for a cheap price. I would like to get this splendid album remastered and reissued with the original album cover artwork one day, but the current CD does sound amazingly good to my ears.

 

I have read many of the posts above, and, while I agree with most points made, I do have to confess a certain fondness for Bing Crosby´s mid-70s albums, produced by Ken Barnes. (Well, the majority was.) This includes the magnificent live album recorded in 1976, "LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM". It remains my favourite live album - ever. I love Frank Sinatra´s singing. But he never got to be as warm as this, IMO.

 

Grab the box I did, it’s got 7 albums - Some Fine Old Chestnuts, Songs I Wish I Had Sung, Bing with a Beat, Bing Swings Whilst Bregman Swings, Fancy Meeting You Here (with Rosemary Clooney), El Señor Bing, and Bing & Sachmo. It was a great introduction for me, though it lacks the generous bonus cuts on the Crosby family sanctioned reissues.

Seasons is another great album too. It was his final album and his voice isn’t where it once had been, but he still has that resonance we all know and love from the Christmas records. Again, the Crosby family reissue has a trove of bonus cuts.

 

For people who like Frank's torch albums I've made a collection of songs including as many of the songs from all the torch albums that Frank made that Bing sang before/after. Songs from Sinatra's Torch Albums by Bing - YouTube

 

This is a good album, I just didn't include it as a recommendation as it has very unknown songs, but all of them good.

 

Oh yes, I totally understand. Merry Christmas usually gets all the love for obvious reasons, but I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed those original songs and those little snippets of Alfred Burt carols that begin some of the holiday songs. I also was impressed with Jack Halloran being involved with the background singers. I love Christmas music from the Golden Age and this album really surprised me as I usually prefer holiday albums that are centered around well known standards or carols.

 

I think, if Bing hadn't fallen off that stage in '77 and had a heart attack a few months later, he might've been able to make even more mighty fine albums. He was planning a Bob Hope duet album and a Noel Coward album. Between 1975 and 1977 he recorded and released 7 albums of new material (including the live album). He also recorded a version of Tom Sawyer. All of the ones I've listened have been good. A Southern Memoir is a particular favorite of mine.

 

I'm surprised A Time To Be Jolly (the song) hasn't become famous at all, the only other version I can think of is from a Perry Como Christmas special.

 

What a whimsical and delightful gem of a song. Wow, I've got to pull that whole album back out this fall and play it. I have been working on a special Christmas album project for Real Gone Music loosely associated with Frank Sinatra, so I already have a little of that holiday spirit going early this year. I cannot say anymore than that for now, but I am hoping we will be able to reveal the project soon.

I just learned something that I was totally unaware of until a few minutes ago. My absolute favorite Bing Crosby carol is not White Christmas, despite it status as the greatest selling single in music history, but instead it is Bing's definitive version of Do You Hear What I Hear? I know this version by Bing was one of the very first recorded versions, but I just love his commanding vocal and the glorious orchestral and choral arrangement. I did not realize until just a few moments ago that this was a one-off single for Capitol Records and the arranger was none other than the legendary Ralph Carmichael, better known for his stupendous arranging skills on Nat King Cole's 6x million selling holiday juggernaut, The Christmas Song. I wonder if anybody knows why Bing did not do a whole holiday album with Mr. Carmichael as his arranging skills for the holiday genre were just stupendous. He also did the arrangements for Lady Ella's lesser known, but still glorious holiday album, Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas.

 

Do You Hear What I Hear? would have to be my favorite of the religous Crosby Christmas songs, with his beautiful rendition of O Holy Night coming next (these versions of these songs are the definitive ones). White Christmas would be my favorite secular Crosby song, but not his famous version, I prefer the versions from TV specials. (BTW I just joined the Yule Log forum). I need to get Nat King Cole's album on CD, I haven't a lot of Christmas CDs as I listen to the radio basically 24/7 during that time of year. Boy this has gone from Bing vs. Frank to Christmas haha.

 

Sorry if I helped to derail this Frank vs Bing thread a little bit. I think it is cool to compare and contrast these two great icons, but I always get a little squeamish when fans start to build up their favorite by knocking down the other one. I mean, I love comparing Charlie Rich to Elvis Presley as I love them both, but I do not think it is a zero sum game. I have obviously listened to a lot more Frank over the years than Bing, despite the family connection to Mr. Crosby, but I admire both of these iconic artists for so many different reasons. Oh yeah, welcome to the Yule.Log forum. Chip is easily the greatest authority in the world on the Golden Age of Christmas.

 

Going back to A Southern Memoir (1975) (a great album you all should check out, there's really only one song I wouldn't recommend and that is Georgia On My Mind), one of the songs from this album, really show a difference in their singing styles and really themselves in a way, Stars Fell On Alabama. Bing's version is quiet and understated in a very good way, whereas as Frank's version from A Swingin' Affair has a bit more life to it (especially nearing the end), but takes away the atmosphere a bit to me anyways. Bing was very understated, he was very humble, too humble as it was almost self deprecating and that probably helps his lower popularity as he didn't really think he was an important singer. Also comparing them vocally, at their peaks they were virtually equals singing wise. Bing, IMO, had the upper hand at phrasing, and Frank at singing torch songs. I think Bing could've done torch songs marvelously in an album, but he never did and I am personally surprised there hasn't been some kind of compilation of his torch songs.

 

Thank you for the welcome. I have Bing as my favorite and Frank in a close second. I think the reason Frank has always been second for me is that when I was initially getting into music other than Christmas music and modern stuff I had tried virtually every genre, but jazz. I tried listening to some of Frank and it didn't do anything for me, and so my search continued and I found Der Bingle. His warm, inviting tone convinced me to give him a chance. I initially found Sinatra too rough, too harsh sounding. After I got into Bing and that kind of music I gave Frank a second chance, and I liked him more the second time around.

 

O Holy Night is probably my number too as well, with Adeste Fideles number one. This past season, though, my appreciation for Do You Hear What I Hear grew. It was never a song I particularly liked to begin with, so I had no idea about its history.

A Time to Be Jolly is a fun album and I finally managed to track down a copy, only having a copy of the title song on a 45 single. A Christmas Toast is one I have fond memories of because my grandmother would play it (from a TruValue hardware store promo cassette!) so that was nice to have back.

 

I'm 53. My grandparents liked Bing Crosby and I do actually remember him when he was still living. Put I'd filed him firmly under 'old peoples' music'.

Of course, I have stronger memories of Sinatra but his career lasted right into the digital era of recording, so his music still sounds 'contemporary' while most of Crosby's best stuff was recorded on 78s and cannot be heard without hiss and crackles.

I like both of them. I think Bing had a better natural voice.

 

A couple of interesting things about Crosby's Palladium concert:

* Rosemary Clooney was invited to guest star, singing portions of the concert when Bing and/or his family got a break off-stage. This was essentially the birth of Rosie's second career, as more of a jazz singer than a pop singer. As some of you know Clooney had a period of troubled years in which she was performing little if at all. Depression. Some substance abuse. Having been present at Bobby Kennedy's speech, immediately after which he was assassinated, was one of the triggers. She was in that awkward stage of wanting to restart her career but lacking confidence, when Bing invited her to participate in that concert. That set her on the road to new performances, as well as many LPs and CDs, mostly on the Concord label.

* For at least a few of Rosie's songs Miguel Ferrer, her oldest child, sat in as drummer. For those who might not know, her "Miguelito," who is also George Clooney's cousin, is the same actor you know from rolls on TV's "Crossing Jordan" and "NCIS: Los Angeles," as well as several films. Unfortunately Miguel passed away early in 2017.

 

He also played Albert in Twin Peaks.